Pros:

Cons:

I've often referred to the Silent Hill series as the "thinking man's Resident Evil." Unlike the RE series, which goes for its scares through an unsubtle combination of hideous zombies and gallons of pixilated blood, the horror in Silent Hill comes from a combination of incredibly rich atmosphere, a suitably horrifying (if slightly incoherent) storyline, and the kind of monsters that would make Freddy Krueger hang up his spiked glove and head for parts unknown. Silent Hill 3, the latest edition of this illustrious series, does a pretty good job of holding up the franchise's legacy of quality, but several problems -- some inherent to the game itself, some in the jump to the PC -- serve to make this version less fun than the previous games in the series.

Silent Hill, for those who have never visited this quaint little burg, is the absolute worst town in America for well, anything. It apparently straddles the line between our dimension and some place that makes Hell look like Disneyland. It's constantly infested by hideous creatures and lots of spooky fog. Without spoiling any part of the storyline, Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first game and stars a teenaged girl named Heather -- the daughter of Silent Hill 1's protagonist. Heather, it seems, is being haunted by disturbing dreams, and in the course of the game, must return to the town to discover her destiny.

An ominous red sun shines through the shades.

That storyline is one of the game's strongest aspects. It is, at turns, suitably mysterious, icky, and horrifying, and touches on all kinds of disturbing themes. It's not terribly coherent, and while it makes a laudable effort to help people catch up, it may be a little tough to follow for people who haven't played the first game. Still, coherence isn't necessarily a virtue in a horror story, and the freaky nature of Heather's plight and the fever-dream quality of her tale actually helps accentuate the terror as the player is never quite sure what's real and what's really going on.

Unfortunately, Heather herself is the weakest link in what's otherwise a great presentation. The voiceovers in the game are consistently great -- except hers. While the game's other characters all have mysterious agendas, they manage to be consistent and compelling. Heather, though, is a remarkably unsympathetic protagonist who never seems to react the way she really should. She never seems truly afraid, even when she says she is, and she seems to just blithely accept visions that had me, as the player, looking away from the screen.

Fortunately, if Heather herself isn't enough to draw you into the game, everything around her is. Silent Hill is notorious for its atmosphere, and the latest version doesn't disappoint. The game's graphics are incredibly well done, filled with greasy, dirty, and downright disgusting textures that made me want to soak in a long, hot bath after watching them. Even better, the flashlight effect that was so effective in previous games is back. Heather will travel through her adventure in incredibly tight, dark areas only barely illuminated by her flashlight which contributes to a wonderfully creepy feeling of paranoia and claustrophobia.